What Jack Can Do

I haven't done one of these posts in awhile, mostly because we've been busy but also because I have been a slacker! Jack comes up with new things every day. I will have trouble remembering most of them, so I will probably edit this again once I finish and remember more things. (I have also been inspired by Mr. Reed Jarrett, who is so adorable at almost 2!)

Anyway...Here are some little tidbits about what our guy can do. He's so funny sometimes that I wish I walked around with a video camera attached to my hand!

• He's a budding engineer. I know, I know, he takes after Justin in looks, stubbornness, and personality, but apparently he's following him intellectually too. Anything that can be stacked, sorted, or separated, instantly is by Jack. His favorite activity is to line up his toys (mostly his cars) like this (I swear I didn't alter this in any way before taking this picture. This is how he left his cars before bed):

• He talks incessantly. I know I have written in the past about his verbal skills and how chatty he is, but he's hit a whole new level that I don't even think I can match! For instance, today I took him to Happy Hollow and we were in line for the Dragon Train ride. A little girl and her mom came behind us to wait in line. We did the typical, "say hi, this is Jack, this is Addison" routine, and she asked Jack, "are you excited about the ride?" He went off!!!! Telling her all about how "Danny the Dragon is hiding, oh here he comes! I see him!, it was my birthday, I had a firetruck birthday, I am two!, I have bees on my shirt, I have a bee, bees go BZZZZ, we came here in Mommy's car, Daddy has a new car, my name is Jack..." etc etc etc. The mom was shocked! She said "wow, he sure is a talker!" I was secretly so proud but also - now it's time to teach him that we don't tell our life story to every random stranger that comes along!!
• He yells (YELLS!) "Mmmm, YUMMY!" after every bite of food he takes. It's very flattering when I've worked hard to make a good dinner - not so good at McDonalds :)
• Speaking of McDonald's...he knows the golden arches and says "ohhhh McDONALDS!!!!" every time we drive by. I wish I could record how he says it; it's so funny. It comes out more like "ohhh, Mick Dunnals!!" with the emphasis on the Mick. He also likes to tell you that he had "chicken fingers" for every meal (liar.)
• He's still carrying the dead bee around in the plastic magnifying cup.
• His new favorite words are "now" and "buy it" .... both of which I am trying to discourage. For example, this afternoon I had to take a pair of pants back to Macy's, and he knows it's at the mall with the ice cream. So I told him that I would get him some ice cream if he was good while I ran my errand. What do I hear from the backseat? "Now, Mommy! Get it! Buy it!" Um, no. I am sorry, we do not talk to Mommy that way.
• I have learned the trick to a successful grocery store visit. It's very tricky, but I have done it two weeks in a row! Wednesday afternoon, after nap, at approximately 3pm, eating his snack in the cart. (Usually a bag of goldfish that he opens at the store.) You have to hand him every item and let him put it in the cart, where he then tells you to "BUY IT!" .... sigh.
• Bathtime - he used to love it and started to rebel against it lately. So I made a game out of it, where we have to wash his squirty animals the same way I wash him. Now Mr. Seal and Mr. Octopus get their hair washed, their bodies scrubbed, their teeth brushed - all by Jack, while I do him. It works! He loves the game and he gets extra clean!
• Daddy. Oh my. DADDY is the best thing since sliced bread. Daddy comes home and the whole world revolves around where Daddy is, what Daddy's doing, can I give Daddy a kiss? It's cute and sad and makes me a little jealous, because seriously kid, who wipes your poopy butt all day???
• "Walk!" is a new command. If he's in a cart or stroller, or even holding your hand, he yells that he wants to walk! I say, "Jack, you are walking, you just have to hold Mommy's hand because it's a parking lot/sidewalk/busy place and it's dangerous to walk on your own." What do I get? "NO, WALK! My walk!" Again, sigh. 
• Pronouns. He's getting better, but still slips up. He says things like "My all done!" for "I'm all done!" and "Me get it!" instead of "I'll get it!" but he's trying.
• He likes to "look." Whenever you are doing something, anything that he can't see, he holds up his hands and says (usually) "my look!" This is mostly when I have two or three pots of something hot bubbling on the stove - but at least he's curious.
• Um, back to the first point - he knows the difference and will ask for by name: computer, iPhone, TV, iPad. He will specify which show he wants to watch on which thing. Scary.
• We got this airplane book from the library, and it has one page showing a full jet plane with a bunch of different cartoon people in it (it's obviously a politically correct book, because there are black people, asian people, a blind guy with glasses, fat people, skinny people...) He likes to read this part and tell you who each person is. "Gigi here! G-doc here! SuSu here! Pop Pop here!" It's funny because each time he changes it up, but when he told me that Gigi was the black woman and that G-doc was the (old asian) pilot, I almost died laughing. 
• He remembers certain things about our recent trip home. (And no, I am not making any of this up.) Every time we get a newspaper on our driveway now, he tells me it's "Pop Pop's paper" because we used to bring the papers into my Dad. He also remembers that G-doc's house had a swimming pool, because we went swimming the other day and he told me "like G-doc's house!"It amazes me how good his memory really is...and don't even get me started on Doak. 
• He can count to five, and sometimes nine. But only when he isn't being silly.
• He's a very good artist! Gigi got him a sketch book and a watercolor paint set and he's made things that I swear are framable (maybe I am just biased...)
• Some other favorite phrases: "all wet!" and "mess." Usually because he's both. 
• Justin built a ramp for his remote control truck in the backyard and he gets REALLY MAD when the truck goes on it twice in a row. He likes to run and jump off it and he yells "my turn!" when the truck goes. If he doesn't get his turn, ohhhh boy!
• Dancing: he likes to "dance" in the car - which really means balling up his fists and moving his arms up and down like a robot - he must have gotten Justin's intellect and my rhythm :) His two favorite songs are "All The Right Moves" by One Republic and Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe" mostly because they have decent beats and drum intros and he yells "again again!!" when they are over :) As a side note, we are both a bit obsessed with One Republic's "Good Life," if only because Jack likes the whistling sound and I like the lyrics. It's very appropriate for our life right now as I am so thankful every single day for my husband and my son and my family and our new life in California. 

I am sure I will remember more later - there is so much funny stuff that he does that it's hard to remember it all!